That's what Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchisuggested in a recent column, claiming that the conference would do itself a favor by jettisoning the Rebels and Bulldogs and adding Central Florida and South Florida instead.

An excerpt:

Let's face it, the only reason Ole Miss and Mississippi State are part of SEC today is that they happened to be at the right place at the right time 100 years ago when the conference was formed while UCF and USF weren't.

If the big boys of the Power 5 truly want to start their own division then how about first getting rid of the irrelevant schools in their own conferences?

Bianchi was opining on efforts by the SEC and four other "power conferences" to obtain greater autonomy in creating or streamlining rules. SEC commissioner Mike Slive said during the SEC spring meetings last month that if autonomy is not granted, the Power 5 conferences could split into a separate "Division IV."

"They sound like the South during the Civil War," O'Leary told Bianchi. "If they don't get their way, they're going to secede and start their own country. ... I think college football is in real trouble."

In recalling those comments, Bianchi suggested that if the SEC and other power conferences were to pull away into their own division, Central Florida and South Florida -- neither of which is currently within a power conference -- would be more of an asset than Ole Miss and Mississippi State:

Why wouldn't the SEC or Big 12 want to dominate the I-4 corridor that runs through the center of one of the most populated, recruiting-rich states in the country? Combined, the Tampa and Orlando TV markets are the fourth-largest in the country whereas the TV markets of Oxford and Starkville don't even show up on the list. Mississippi's largest city - Jackson - is nation's 94th-largest market.

Of course, the SEC already has the entire state of Florida within its footprint for television and recruiting purposes because the University of Florida is in the conference. That's why schools like Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech weren't targeted when the SEC expanded in 2012. Those states were already within the league's footprint, while Texas A&M and Missouri brought new markets to the conference.

Adding Central Florida and South Florida could actually hurt recruiting efforts by out-of-state SEC schools in Florida, creating more competition for Sunshine State prospects. A key selling point schools like Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and others use to prospects in Florida is that none of their in-state competitors except the Gators are in the SEC, considered the top football conference in the nation.